CD Projekt RED - What Andrzej Sapkowski Thinks about the Games @ Eurogamer

DArtagnan

Originally Posted by Mr Smiley
I suspect that his publisher wants him to chash in on the success of the Witcher games, by writing more Witcher stories, preferably with content closer to the games than he would like. It would make perfect sense from a business perspective, while it would also compromise his artistic integrity, which he obviously feels very strongly about.

I'm not all that impressed by his books, but I admire his stubbornness here. It would have been easier and more profitable for him to just go with the flow and churn out more Withcer books along with the games.

It is old news. The relationship between the writer and the publisher were exposed years ago.

The author might have been interviewed on the topic, giving more insight. But the relationship and how it works has been known for years. They made no mystery they received little help from the writer and that the story was not a sequel but an alternative developpment.

I think that the publisher wanted to start their success story by building on the domestic market and turned to something local. Something easily associated as polish. As the Witcher is big in Poland, they turned to the writer to buy exploitation rights. This is the kind of agreements they stroke.
Nothing more.

DArtagnan

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Grinding is when you're doing a repeat activity without having fun. Well, to me - anyway.

To everyone. There is high a difference between Inquisitor respawns and DeusEx:HR mobs. Just an example. In one game you grind in another you don't grind.

And having a part of the game unstoppable grinding makes it a grinder. Remember that TW2 also has a grinding part, but did I ever call it an annoying grinder? Of course not. Why? Because by destroying nests you stop respawns, you stop grinding. Alas that returns us to ontopic, right?

DArtagnan

To everyone. There is high a difference between Inquisitor respawns and DeusEx:HR mobs. Just an example. In one game you grind in another you don't grind.

And having a part of the game unstoppable grinding makes it a grinder. Remember that TW2 also has a grinding part, but did I ever call it an annoying grinder? Of course not. Why? Because by destroying nests you stop respawns, you stop grinding. Alas that returns us to ontopic, right?

The little detail that you're missing is that some people are actually having fun repeating things - and that means it's not grinding to them.

Also, every grind can be stopped - because you can stop grinding. The reason people are not stopping is, surprisingly, because they don't consider it a grind. They stop once it BECOMES a grind to them, and then they can call it a grinder afterwards.

Some people enjoy playing Tetris - where you're repeating a TINY subset of actions over and over and over.

I consider playing Tetris for more than 10 seconds a HUGE grind. But I wouldn't call Tetris a grinder in an objective sense.

DArtagnan

I will say it is highly unusual when you see writers like Martin, Salvatore,Orson Scott Card and even Isaac Asimov embraced using games as an avenue for their story-telling.This is a pretty interesting link. http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/…o-game-career/
To the point:

Itís a common pattern for writers to get involved in other kinds of media projects, be it plays or movies. To me, games is another one of those. In some ways, games are a cleaner fit with what fantasy and science fiction writers do for a living. The thing that differentiates us is the world build aspect. Thatís what science fiction and fantasy writers do. We donít just create stories, we create a world. And then we write stories within those worlds. I can remember my amazement when the ďHaloĒ novels came out. Suddenly, these worlds were becoming rich enough to support novels. And in important ways, the novels buttressed what was going on in the games. So that became a signal that getting involved in games may be a totally rational career move for a science fiction fantasy author.

I bought a hard cover of a Raymond E. Feist book and it had a free copy of one of the Krondor games in the back.
I this guy for sticking to his principles but it looks like he hasn't done any financial homework. He can have books and a wad of cash in his pocket.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
The little detail that you're missing is that some people are actually having fun repeating things - and that means it's not grinding to them.
…
Some people enjoy playing Tetris - where you're repeating a TINY subset of actions over and over and over.

I'm not missing any little detail. Publishers think all of us are grinderlovers. And obviously, you think that too.
Well… those ppl who adore grinding can wide open their wallet and help saving things like Kingdoms of Amalur or pledge to some kickstarter grinder. In the meantime I'm supporting nongrinders. How come I'm not the only one behaving like that is beyond my imagination. Let's call that disgust by grinders as "ignorant" or "closeminded" set that can probably only fail in the long run just to keep you and all those publishers satisfied.

Tetris… Nice move, from grinding and not grinding in RPGs you're reaching for an argument with a game that ain't RPG. I suspect that's because you're now concentrated on a problem what games can work on iPad mini, and Tetris is definetly one of those. What's next one to mention? Super Mario? Or Pacman?

Originally Posted by Moriendor
Yeah, poor Sapkowski. Quick! Someone arrest the guy who held a gun to his head when he signed away the video game rights!
Oh, and it surely must be really painful to see your super-intellectual literary work based on a monster slayer be raped by CDP's lowly crappy monster slayer games.
I mean, seriously, we all know that Sapkowski is right up there with Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann and Immanuel Kant, right? What was CDP thinking when they made a monster slayer RPG? Quick! Someone call a lawyer or something!

Couldn't put it any better myself Moriendor

Originally Posted by Cacheperl
To be honest, the Witcher novels are not that great. I liked the short stories much better, and Sapkowskis Hussite trilogy is much better anyways.

DArtagnan

But as sad as all this reaction is, it's really no wonder if you are aware of Sapkowski's general attitude. The old man wrote the Witcher short stories, and when they became locally successful, he started dissing them all over, claiming they are not very good, even going as far as saying something like fantasy in itself cannot be literature at all, ever. He did this inspite of the short stories being quite brilliant in their own right (mixing elements of slavic folk myth, dark fantasy, anecdotes with quite contemporary economic and political ideas and observations; well, he did study economy).

Then he wrote the novels in the early 90s, and shifted the focus onto education (sort of like a fantasy Emile) and more politics. Fantasy and withcers are a backdrop in these books really, and eventually he eliminated Geralt entirely.
And then he stopped writing anything related to that particular universe after 1999, until the games started putting Sapkowski's fantasy back on the map and making it accessible for audiences worldwide. He totally and fully agreed to CDPR doing whatever the hell they wanted with this universe, since he does not want to write anything in it again, and he does not like it at all. But the money and recognition was welcome, of course.

What he says comes down to him dissing the people who adapted the feeling and message of his works very well into another media, while making entertaining games. He talks bile about adaptation in general. And he clearly has no idea what the games are about. But the money was welcome. And these guys at CRProject worshipped him, they took care of his story, they breathed new life into the world he carelessly threw away.

Am I right when I read he wants to write in that universe again, but he disregards whatever others did with his consent?! That means he completely disregards other artists while preaching about the sanctity of art.
This man is full of sh*t.